Background:
22:20-24 Abraham learned that his brother, Nahor, had 12 sons. Then in 23:1 Sarah died in the land of Canaan. He told the sons of Heth,
4 “I am a temporary settler among you. Grant me ownership of a burial site among you so that I may bury my dead.”
He did not moved the corpse of Sarah back to his hometown where his brother and his family lived for burial. Instead, he wanted to purchase the land from the Canaanites and made it his permanent home.
God had promised the land to Abraham and before he died he would not see the fulfillment 15:16. By faith, Abraham knew that was the reality and therefore, he buried Sarah there.
Reflection: Do you walk not by sight but by faith like Abraham? How can you practice your faith today? Or do you say "no" to your old self? In what area you will not go back to where you were and will live like Christ?
Repeated phrases:
(1) Abraham paid full price and brought the filed and the cave from the Hethite.
"Grant me ownership of a burial site" v.4, "Let him sell it to me publicly for the full price, so that I may own it as a burial site" v.9, "“No, my lord! Hear me out. I sell you both the field and the cave that is in it" v.11, "I pay to you the price of the field." v.13, "400 pieces of silver, according to the standard measurement at the time" v.16.
(2) The transaction was witnessed in front of the judges by the gate and before the people.
"Ephron the Hethite replied to Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth—before all who entered the gate of his city" v.10, "In the presence of my people I sell it to you. Bury your dead" v.11, "in the hearing of the sons of Heth" v.16, "So Abraham secured Ephron’s field in Machpelah...as his property in the presence of the sons of Heth before all who entered the gate of Ephron’s city" v.27, 28.
Reflection: There is no doubt that the cave and the filed belonged to Abraham. It as a secure transaction.
Even though Abraham believed that the land would be his after the Israelites came back from Egypt 15:13-16 he needed to buy it now from the Hethite. He needed to wait and paid 400 pieces of silver to buy something that would eventually be his.
Do we learn to wait? Or you learn how to give up your right even though you are right and the others are wrong?
Audrey
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